When you "reach for the stars" today it may mean reaching in your pocket to get the latest news on your mobile phone. This is the blog of the Emerging Technologies in Journalism course at the University of Missouri.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Photo: The parade ending in front of Tiger Plaza where the participants posed for pictures and continued their MIZ chants.

At this years LGBTQ Pride Parade, students, organizations and locals alike rallied together to march around the MU campus. Led by the MU LGBTQ Resource Center the parade held strong through a dreary afternoon and cold weather.

About a few dozen people actually participated in the parade, but many others showed an outpour of support via social media. Everything from tweets to instagrams were used to capture the event. Hashtags such as #mizzoupride and #onemizzou could be seen across twitter feeds all afternoon. Social media was even used to direct paraders in chants, as well as tell them all the info leading up to the parade itself.

Photo: Instagram post of the participants

Photo: Tweet from the MSA twitter account about the event

Photo: Tweet of a posed picture after the parade

Photo: Free shirts were provided before the parade

Photo: A tweet by the MU LGBTQ Resource Center telling participants which chants to say.

The outpouring of support via social media was strong and constant throughout the 2014 MU Pride Parade this year. Although I had seen the Missourian use it often, I had never personally used Storify to capture an event. Since most of my reporting was via tweeting and monitoring tweets, I decided this was the best way to cover the story. There is little "new" news with an event like this. These parades happen everywhere. BUT there are always fresh faces and conversations going on, and social media is a perfect way to explore that.

Setting up for the gay pride march on April 30, LGBTQ
Resource Center Coordinator Struby Struble passed out numerous homemade banners
in preparation for the second to last Gay Pride Month event.

Struble has been directing and coordinating events for the group
for two and a half years. She has coordinated 36 events this month with the
final one, Lavendar Graduation, taking place Wednesday May 14.

While organizing the troops, Struble appeared stressed but
maintained her enthusiasm throughout the preparation for the march. She is
excited about the success each event has produced this month, especially the
Identity Lunches, which took place April 3.

The lunches were a new addition to the agenda this year and
generated a huge turnout. At the lunches, attendees learned about specific
identities and issues within the LGBTQ community.

Once every had a sign and some took their seats on the golf cart, the group began its march throughout campus while cheering “MIZ-ZOU,” among others.

Dozens of students braved chilly winds on Wednesday to march
across the University of Missouri’s campus as part of an annual event
supporting LGBTQ rights that witnessed parades across the world.

Shouting, “Two-four-six-eight, equality in very state,”
the enthusiastic crowd began marching at MU’s Brady Fountain and proceeded on a
winding path across the campus.

The crowd, estimated at around 50-60, was
smaller than the 200-300 that Struby Struble, coordinator of MU’s LGBTQ
Resource Center, had said she hoped for. The parade was staged during colder than usual
temperatures.

The University of Missouri held a LGBTQ Pride parade on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 in Columbia, Mo. Three students condensed their coming-out stories to around 10 seconds. Watch what Delan Ellington, Chris Gotchner and Brenna Catletstout had to say about their experiences.

Students and faculty members came together at the student center on Wednesday April 30, 2014 for the annual Pride Parade to show their support for the LGBTQ community.

Missouri Student Daniel Stribling poses with a friend at the parade. "I think it always shows support go out community, and the allies of our community," Stribling said.
Students decorated golf carts in prideful banners to show their LGBTQ support.
Students Wesley Fitzgabbons, Dakota Botts, Dalton Botts, and Kelly Murphy wait for the parade to begin.

Today the MU LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) Resource Center sponsored the annual Pride Parade. They invited people to meet at Circle Fountain outside the MU Student Center, and encouraged people to bring a poster, a message, a friend, or just yourself!

The goal was to show pride and support of all Tigers by marching through campus.

Dakota Botts, Triangle Coalition, the main student LGBTQ group on campus, President, said one of the main significant points of the parade is that everyone should be treated with equality.

The video below highlights some of the pride preparation. Students were decorating "floats," raising flags, and showing their pride.

The support for The Mizzou Pride Parade was over whelming. People from all over town gathered near the Brady Fountain, despite the gloomy weather, to support equal opportunity. Armed with decorated golf carts, rainbow flags, and homemade signs the crowd moved forward together.
Chants rang out, people played instruments and pride radiated from every person there.
The smiles from the crowd were infectious. It was impossible not to feel so much joy for the couples who could show their love openly without judgement and to not feel so much pride to be a part of a campus that willingly accepts them just as they are.

"I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I am Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African-America, and I'm gay."

From noon to 3 p.m. earlier today, a variety of students
braved the unseasonably cold weather for late April to show their advocacy for
the Mizzou LGBTQ community. Starting at the Brady Fountain next to the Arts
& Science building on campus, the paraders marched through campus, carrying
various handmade signs. The route followed Ninth Street, sneaked around the
columns and Francis Quadrangle and then ended on Rollins Street.

An onslaught of supporters participated in the 3rd
annual Pride Parade, put on by the LGBTQ Resource Center. They marched with
rainbow flags, balloons and ribbons, proudly displaying their support, either
for themselves, for a friend or for a loved one. Marchers also were dressed to
the T with buttons, colored socks – even a rainbow umbrella. As they
crisscrossed around campus they shouted their beliefs in many different chants
such as “whoever we may be, we want equality” and “hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s
got to go.” Many who couldn’t make it to the parade reached out to the event
and its participants on Twitter, giving compassionate encouragements or wishes
that they could have been there to march with them.

The Pride Parade is one of many events that have recently
taken place on campus, and it wrapped up a Pride Month filled with films,
presentations, monologues, panels, lectures and even drag shows.

Fore more about this year’s events or information regarding the Mizzou
LGBTQ community in general, visit http://lgbtq.missouri.edu/

The last day in April marks Mizzou's annual Pride Parade in celebration of Pride Month. It's only the third time that the campus's LGBTQ Resource Center has put on a parade, but they've already gotten great news coverage and formed a dedicated following. So how can YOUR campus kick off its own bitchin' pride parade?

First of all, you gotta dress the part--from head...

Struby Struble, Coordinator of the LGBTQ Resource Center, is one of the hippest cats around. Note the Mizzou Tigers hat with strategically placed MU rainbow pin.

...to toe.

Did you guys, like, call each other the night before and decide to wear the same thing? Because that totally rocks.